


Picking Up Strays

by TimeLadyoftheSith



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Gift Fic, Meddling TARDIS, Prompt Fic, The Doctor is a good boy, Unintentional Cuddling for Warmth, Unknown Confessions, Yes he is, shape shifting as punishment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-03 09:23:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17281403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimeLadyoftheSith/pseuds/TimeLadyoftheSith
Summary: While doing some repairs, the Doctor accidentally breaks the heating systems. Unfortunately, the only place he can locate a replacement is on a planet where humans are banned. With Rose and Jack on strict orders not to leave the ship, he wanders out to get the part.He didn’t expect the citizens to mistake him as a human, and he definitely didn’t expect to end up on four legs with a tail as punishment. It’s a good thing the punishment only lasts twelve hours, but can he make it that long without embarrassing himself or his friends.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mrsbertucci](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrsbertucci/gifts).



“Doctor, ‘ave you fixed the environmental circuits yet. It’s bloody boilin’ in here.” Rose panted, as she wiped sweat her brow. Something had damaged it when they were flying away from a supernova he’d wanted to show her. She’d woken up drenched in sweat, only to find Jack panting and chugging water in the hall.    
  
“Workin’ on it.” The Doctor huffed from beneath the console grating. His jacket was tossed over a rail, which meant the insane temperatures were finally getting to him.    
  
“‘M dyin’. How long’s it gonna take?” She eyed the four short steps up to the jumpseat with trepidation. The two minute walk from the pool had been torture, sapping her energy.    
  
“Told you and Jack to cool off in the pool, didn’ I?” There was a clank, some sparks, and the lights flickered. Rose grabbed the rail, hissing as it was just as hot as pavement in summer.    
  
“Pool’s more like an olympic sized spa now.” She dragged herself up the steps, panting from exertion. “Jack’s currently naked in a tub of ice water.” She groaned as she lowered herself to the jumpseat, nearly regretting it as it clung to her skin, but she couldn’t move. “He emptied out the entire freezer. Didn’ even offer me a cube.”    
  
There was another clank, followed by a loud hiss as freezing air misted up out of the grating. Rose groaned in delight as it bit at her skin. Then it was gone. “Almost got it. May be another twenty minutes.”    
  
“You’re a Time Lord. Can’ you make twenty minutes two? Christ, ‘m dyin’.” She flopped down into her back, trying to catch the last of the chill that had lingered on the leather against her bare skin.    
  
“You’re not dyin’.” The Doctor huffed, followed by some more banging and an untranslated curse. “Jus’, try to be still.”    
  
“You try to be still when it feels like you’re in a witch’s cauldron.” Rose snorted. She hissed as she shifted her thighs, the denim sticking to her legs. Why hadn’t she just grabbed the sarong that went with this top? Right, it was in the wardrobe on the other side of the ship.    
  
The Doctor rolled his eyes, as he brushed a droplet of sweat from his brow. He was feeling a tad warm, so his companions had to be suffering. He was working to fix the circuits, but more fuses and wires had been destroyed than he thought. “Look, once I get this fixed, ‘ll take ya to Woman Wept for some snow angels. Can you jus’ stop fussin’ and let me think.”    
  
He stared at the wires, trying his best to remember where he’d taken at puce one from. Right, it went to the internal atmospheric regulator. He just needed to solder it in. Squinting, he plucked it from where it was dangling. Rose had gone awfully quiet, and he thought her breathing was a bit labored. “Rose, you didn’ pass out did ya?” Okay, so he knew she hadn’t, he just liked when she rambled on as he worked. The underlying inflections of her voice, which only the superior hearing of a Time Lord could truly pick up, helped him concentrate.    
  
“Very nearly, guuuuuh, this is worse than when we got trapped in those steam mines.” There was a squeaking squelch, as he touched the soldering iron to the wire and circuit. She was probably wearing one of those breezy dresses they’d picked up on San Kaloon. They were a bit short, not that he’d noticed. Time Lords were above such base urges as oggling brilliant, funny, gorgeous humans. “Which I still haven’ forgiven you for.”   
  
“It is not.” He snorted, snagging a chartreuse wire and twisting it back into place with the purification system. “My TARDIS would never spray you with a mildly sulfuric defensive geyser.” To his relief, the fourteen green lights flickered to life around him. “Got the heating system repaired!”    
  
“Screw the heat, Doctor! I need cold, like mid January in Inverness cold.” Another one of those squeaky squelches occurred.    
  
“Workin’ on it, blimey. D’ya have to nag?” The Doctor chuckled under his breath. Rose could never nag him. That’d mean she was annoying, and that was so far from the truth.    
  
“‘M not naggin’. ‘M bein’ motivational.” Rose lifted her head from the seat, staring at the hole. Recently the thought of him down there, concealed, out of view was temptation to wriggle down and see what would happen if they were trapped in such close quarters. She wasn’t quite sure when the fantasies had started. It was definitely before Jack, but she couldn’t quite remember what it was after.    
  
She’d been scared, for some reason, running from some angry guards in some palace. He’d held her to him, his chest to her back, his hand over her mouth as they crouched behind a tapestry, and the nearness had triggered something deeper than the silly crush she kept telling herself she’d had. Rose hadn’t exactly failed to notice from ‘run’ that he was gorgeous, but it was just a crush, a new thrill. For months now, it kept growing. She wanted more than friendship, but she couldn’t ever tell him that. “‘M pretty sure ‘m gonna sweat off two stones if you don’t hurry.”    
  
“Nearly done, Rose. Don’t go wastin’ away on me. Your mum will have after me if I brought ya home skin and bones.” He wasn’t really afraid of Jackie, but he didn’t fancy another one of her slaps. Tolerating the elder Tyler kept Rose content, and lately, the Doctor had found he’d been doing a lot of things to keep her content.    
  
The Doctor had tried to tell himself it was a passing attraction, that the loss of his people, as much as he had disliked what they’d devolved to at the end, that drove him to making sure Rose wanted to stay. After all, he was nine hundred, and she was nineteen. She’d probably think he was a lecher if he’d acted on his impulses. Those impulses were thoroughly embarrassing. He wasn’t some randy hundred year old fresh out of the Academy.    
  
“Nah, she’s always worried that ‘m gonna take after my aunt. ‘Watch eatin’ them chips, Rose. Don’ want to be busting out of those jeans’.” Rose chuckled, before blowing out a heavy breath. She didn’t have to worry about that anymore. She’d always kept active, and life with the Doctor kept her fit and tone. She’d even jokingly suggested he could be a personal trainer, call it the ‘Run for Your Life’ slim down.    
  
“Kept you in shape for travelin’ with me though, didn’t it?” Rose would have flashed a rude gesture at him, but honestly, her arm felt too heavy to move. She let it fall to her bare stomach, as she stared up at the coral struts. “Jus’ a few more wires, ‘nd she’ll be fixed.    
  
“If ‘m alive.”    
  
Rose’s feigned sigh of weariness made the Doctor shake his head. He blew a drop of sweat off his nose, as he typed in the recalibration codes. “If you have a heat stroke, I’ll revive you.” He rolled his shoulders, watching as the atmospheric diagnostic began to run. It flashed three times, and then he felt the cool air begin shifting around him. “All done.” Grabbing the edge of the grating, he began to scramble out. What he saw when his head emerged left him a bit punch drunk.    
  
Rose was splayed out over the jumpseat wearing nothing but a nearly illegal bikini top and an almost pointless jean skirt. Her bare skin glistened with swear, from her shoeless feet to her brow. She was flushed, breaths coming quick and short, making her chest rise and fall. The Doctor had never been prone to merely physical attractions, but this was Rose. He was already half smitten with just her quick wit, genuine heart, and easy personality. All of that, combined, simply made her more alluring.    
  
The vents began blasting frigid air into the room, and Rose made a noise he knew was illegal on seventy eight planets. It made him jerk, as he scrambled to avert his eyes. His knee knocked into something, and with a sizzling pop, the lights flickered off. Rose squealed in shock, but the Doctor wasn’f worried. Sure enough, fhe console room was illuminated.    
  
“D-d-doctor.” Rose shivered, as the air coming from above and below her seemed to be dropping. “Did you break the heater now.” She sat up, rubbing her slick arms as the sweat intensified the chill.    
  
“Of course not.” The Doctor shook himself, about to fully emerge, but the TARDIS whined in his mind. “Maybe.” Ducking back down, he found his stunned jerk at her near nakedness had broken the cyclical heat balancer in three pieces. “Yeah.” He watched as she wrapped her arms around herself, her warm, humany, sweet breath fogged in the air. Well bollocks. Now she was freezing. “Hang on.”    
  
Rose clenched her teeth to keep from chattering, contemplating sprinting ro her room to change. She didn’t have a chance, because something heavy and thick encircled her. Gasping, she looked up to find the Doctor wrapping that downright sexy leather coat over her. It smelled so much like him, that she instinctively buried her face in it. “Thanks.”   
  
“Jus’ keep it on until you get changed.” The Doctor swallowed as Rose took a deep inhale of the leather and smiled. Hang on? She was sniffing his coat, and it made her smile? No, she was probably just glad it was blocking her skin. “Probably gonna need it after too.” He tugged at his ear, wondering how she’d rake his next words. “I, might’ve, accidentally broken the heat now, ‘nd I don’t have the part.”    
  
Rose perked up instantly, sliding her arms in the sleeves, relishing how it felt on her skin. Broken parts meant... “shopping?” She giggled.    
  
“Shopping, now go put some clothes on.” The Doctor did his best to sound commanding, but he knew he failed because she rolled her eyes. Okay, so maybe he did feel something more than just basic attraction. But he couldn’t tell her. “Now, Rose!” He pointed to the hall, and he absolutely did not stare at how long her legs looked as the strutted out from under his jacket.


	2. Chapter 2

“Damn it.” The Doctor rarely swore, at least in an understandable language. Rose was pretty sure the times the TARDIS failed to translate loud, but usually muffled, exclamations from the man it was swearing. “Why does it have to be Ankalias? Why couldn’ it be Gryatora or  Jukolem Seven?”    
  
“What’s so bad about Ankalias?” Rose tightened the leather coat around her four layers of thermal clothing and pulled the scarf from over her nose. He hadn’t taken it back yet, and Rose was not about to ask why. They had just landed, after the Doctor had located the needed replacement part. It’d taken the TARDIS three hours to ping a location, which she’d already taken as a bad sign.    
  
“Humans are banned there.” Jack emerged from the corridor, carrying two steaming mugs of coco. “Here Rosie.” She clutched the cup, sighing as the heat warmed her hands through the mittens. “Long story short, some colony-“    
  
“It wasn’ a colony.” The Doctor shot Jack a warning glare. He told Rose about planets, not the Time Agent. “Don’ pipe in about a planet if you don’ know the history.” Rose poked him through his jumper, giving him an exasperated look. Right, she fancied the defrocked pretty boy. Although, he couldn’t understand why.    
  
He was absolutely not jealous as Jack held open the blanket he’d wrapped around himself when he sat down, and his tiny, blonde human practically dove under it to curl up beside him. “It was a platoon of traveling soldiers. The Ankalians are peaceful, bu’ that peace comes because they are fierce warriors. The humans pretended to be friendly at first, but started damaging the ecosystem, destroying fifty five endangered species, and dirtied up one of their sacred springs.”    
  
“So the Ankalians kicked their arse’s and the humans left?” Rose sipped her rapidly cooling coco. She didn’t really want to snuggle up next to Jack, but the man was a bloody furnace. The Doctor told her, when she’d thought Jack was spiking a fever after a nasty accident, it was due to evolution, humans adjusting to space travel, settling on harsher planets, and Jack had confirmed it after he regained consciousness. The planet he’d grown up on had longer and more severe winters than Earth, snowing for up to three weeks at a time.    
  
“Not exactly-“ Jack gave a semi uncomfortable sigh, as he looked down at her, but the Doctor cut him off.    
  
“Slaughtered half, piled the bodies in their ships, ‘nd launched them into one of their suns. The rest they did somethin’ the history books don’t clearly explain, shoved them in the last ship, and deported them to a neighboring planet. Then they broadcasted the battle on every known major signal with the warning that any human who steps foot on their planet will be punished.” The Doctor couldn’t remember what the punishment was, and the explanations on the screen was a bit confusing. It said something about devolving, humiliating, or it could be translated as animorphic degradation.    
  
The punishments varied, both in length and shape. What in Rassilon’s gauntlet did that even mean, shape? The longest punishment would stretch between twelve to eighteen Earth hours. Either way, he was not risking Rose’s safety. He liked her as evolved as she was, unhumilated, and definitely not subject to animorphic degradation, whatever that was.    
  
“Translation, Rose, we have to stay home while Dad heads out for a pack of smokes.” Jack snickered, rubbing his hand along her arm. The heat was nice, but that was it.    
  
“He’s so not my dad.” She shot back, just as the Doctor started to get that irritated look. “So, Doctor, this is definitely one of those ‘if you wander off, you’re in trouble’ planets?” It wasn’t the first time he’d taken her to one. Usually it just meant she had to stay glued to his hip, which she did not mind in the least. Planets like that meant he’d have his arm around her waist and not holding hands. She wriggled away from Jack to move back to the Doctor, leaning against his arm to see the screen. Not that she could ever translate what she read there.   
  
“No, it means if you step one foot off the TARDIS you’re possibly signin’ a death warrant for yourself.” The Doctor flicked the screen off, and he let himself give in to the urge to hug her. “Won’ have you two up on the executioner’s block. It’s not Tuesday.” This earned him a delightful giggle, as she buried her face in his chest. She was still shivering, despite the layers she’d pulled on. “Jus’ this once, don’t disobey me.”    
  
“Okay, just this once.” Those caramel eyes sparkled mischievously up at him. “Can’ guarantee it on Friday though. Fridays always make me rebel.” Rose stepped back, much to his chagrin, and began pulling off his coat. “Hurry back though.” He stilled her hands, pulling it back up around her. The Doctor told himself it was not because she looked absolutely breath taking in it. She was just warmer, that was all.    
  
“Keep it. Don’ need it on the planet.” Rose bit back a happy sigh as the Doctor tucked his coat around her again. Okay, so she had thought wearing it was making him look at her more, but the glances were so quick she thought she’d imagined most of them. “Plus outside animal based clothing like furs and leathers are banned as well. There’s jus’ one thing.”    
  
“What’s that.” Jack was eying them with a severely amused expression. Rose didn’t understand what was so funny, because this seemed pretty serious. The Doctor wouldn’t have confined them to the ship if it weren’t.    
  
“I couldn’t land in the city. Their surveillance systems monitor any changes.” The Doctor wasn’t happy about that, in the least. “Not all species are as oblivious as you lot. So, I landed us about half an hour’s walk from it. The TARDIS’ monitoring system said there’s going to be a nasty storm while ‘m gone. I’ll try to get back anyways, but the weather here can be unpredictable. They’re in a climate shift, recovering from the damages the humans did.”    
  
He was not comfortable with the idea of leaving them alone, but unless he wanted to watch Rose risk hypothermia, he had to go. “I may have to room there overnight, but if so I’ll be back by dawn.”    
  
“You’ll be safe though, right?” Rose pulled at the front of his jumper. The Doctor wasn’t human, but he did look it. Well, at least what bits she’d seen, which was only a handful of rare shirtless glances when they’d gone swimming. “Doctor?”    
  
“Of course.” Those oceanic eyes rolled, as he batted her hands away from his chest. Right, that was a bit intimate, and Rose remembered he was above such things. After all, he had once mentioned his species was sterile. It had been a passing comment, almost an after thought when she’d asked to pop to a shop and get some things. Something about, ‘forgot human women needed those. Time Ladies didn’t. We’re all born sterile.’ Then he’d wandered off to look at tools. Being sterile meant sex wasn’t needed. So, his people probably didn’ even have libidos. Just because he said he ‘danced’, didn’t mean he meant it.    
  
“‘M not human. Now, I managed to dig up some heating coils and throw together three space heaters. One’s in the galley, and the others are in your rooms.” His hand dove into the pocket of the jacket, but Rose couldn’t feel his fingers on her thigh. That was a shame. It give her something to fuel her fantasies. With a grin, he produced his a credit stick. “You two just stay put, ‘nd don’t freeze to death on me.” The sonic’s tip tapped her nose, as he gave her a stern look. “‘Nd for the love of bananas, don’ step one foot out those doors.”    
  
“I’ll make sure she doesn’t.” Jack offered from the jumpseat. “If she gets stir crazy. I’ll tie her to the bed.” The Time Agent flashed his Rose a disgusting smirk. Rose gave a very unlady like snort, but she giggled after. The Doctor wasn’t jealous, no. Yet, his eyebrows were narrowing as he clenched his fists at his side. “Kidding. Go on. We’ll be fine, just a tad frosty.”    
  
“Be back in a bit.” With a brief hug for Rose, in which he absolutely did not flash Jack what felt like the thousandth of warning glares, he hurried down the ramp and shut the doors behind him. “Bloody defrocked pretty boy.” He huffed, shoving his sonic in his pocket.    
  
It was a brisk walk to town. Sure enough, the atmosphere was thick and heavy, tasting of wet soil and lingering traces of ozone. It was autumn in this hemisphere, but the coolness wouldn’t settle until the rain started. He wouldn’t feel it anyways. “Rose mind your-“ he reached for her hand, to help her over a huge limb on the path. Right, she was back on the TARDIS, and he drug his hand back to his side. Having her with him had become as common place as breathing, and the Doctor had to admit it was a bit lonely without her exuberance.    
  
He hadn’t realized how attached he had become to knowing her fingers were always within reach. In fact, so much so now that his palm felt empty without it. The Doctor also hadn’t realized until he’d reached for her for the fourth time, that Rose had become an ingrained instinct for him. While he was running eight different lines of thought in his mind, her smile kept cropping into the forefront. He sighed, kicking at a rock.    
  
Such thoughts were useless. Rose wasn’t actually interested in him anyways. Yeah, she flirted, and he flirted right back if he wasn’t paying attention. That wasn’t anything, because Rose flirted with everyone. Not to mention, she had that boyfriend, Ricky the idiot. They’d swanned off in Cardiff, not that he’d been spying when the suggestion for a hotel room was mentioned. Okay so he had, and it’d boiled him to no end.    
  
The city skyline was in view but he still had a ways of a walk. He knew if Rose was there, she’d say he was brooding. Maybe he was, and maybe he wasn’t. Fine, so he may actually have more than a crush on her. He’d loved her, as a friend, right from their first adventure, drawn to her brilliant wit and easy personality. Somehow, though, that had unfurled into something deeper, he’d started feeling it in Utah, and it only grew with each day. Rose wouldn’t want him though.    
  
Why would she? This was definitely not the prettiest body he’s had. His fifth and eighth body was more her type really. If he was in his eighth one, unmarred by the war, not carrying this heavy guilt that tormented his weekly sleep, then maybe she’d want him. She only viewed him as a friend, which he’d just have to accept. The Doctor kicked at another rock. Okay, so he was in love with his best friend. There was no other reason he would have been so affected by her practically and soaked with sweat. It was just a shame that sweat wasn’t from other activities.    
  
“Stop it.” He growled at his trousers. Okay, so it wasn’t the first time his body had been rebellious because of her. The last few months his nightmares had been interspersed with vivid dreams, of his Rose, on his bed or bent over the galley table. “No.... focus... stars, what are you a hundred?” He grumbled, forcing his slowly rising pheromones back into balance.    
  
He was only ten minutes out from the rain started. It came with a loud crack of thunder as three bolts of gold lightning pierced the sky. The Doctor sprinted up the road, ducking under the awning of a building as the rain became a torrent. “Lucky me.” He huffed, wiping his face. The shop he needed was one door down. Oddly the streets were empty, but it was around dinner time for them, and they were probably indoors.    
  
Smiling at his fortune, the Doctor opened the door and stepped in. The shop was empty, except for a young looking boy. His fur was melding from blue to tan, indicating he was somewhere around puberty. “Oh my Pylora! A human!” His mane ruffled up in obvious fear.   
  
“No! No! Not a Human. ‘M a Time Lord.” The Doctor held up his hands to show he meant no harm. “I’m the Doctor, what’s your name?”   
  
“Jartun.” The youth was eying him warily. “You sure look human!    
  
“No, humans look Time Lord.” Pulling out his credit stick. the Doctor began scouring the shelves of mixmatched parts. “I’m looking for a cyclical heat balancer, model seventy two. Your catalog said you had two.”    
  
“Uh yeah, second aisle, top shelf.” Jartun was sniffing the air, but the Doctor wasn’t worried. He doubted the boy had ever actually encountered a human. The skirmish had been before his parents were even born.    
  
Turning into the aisle, he located the needed part. He pulled it down and headed up to the register. “So, your parents own the shop?”    
  
“Yeah, my mum does. She went to get my sister from school.” The boy took the element and began typing with one padded finger on a screen. “I mind the shop now, but come spring I’m gonna be training to be a patrolman. My dad’s one.”    
  
“Good job, that. Guessin’ you’re excited to start.” The Doctor surrendered the credit stick, flashing the boy an encouraging smile. With a beep, the part and credit stick were passed back. “Good luck, Jartun! Have a nice day.”    
  
The rain was still thundering around, and the Doctor was contemplating whether he should brave the storm and risk getting caught by the flash floods in the valley that separated him from the TARDIS. Suddenly, a cry rang out. “Human! Human in the streets.”    
  
The Doctor swore in Gallifreyan, as he spun around. “Not human! I’m not human!” The shout, which had come from a Patrolman walking with a female and young girl had already caused alarms to ring out. “I’m not a human! Shit!” The mob was gathering, and five more patrolman had appeared carrying odd looking devices.    
  
“Get him!”    
  
Without looking back, the Doctor ran. He’d just dodged across the street when four silver beams whizzed past him, hitting some windows in a flash. White heat splayed across his back, and he felt himself falling. No! He was shrinking, as his bones and muscles twisted painfully.    
  
He hit the ground with a thud, struggling to get his legs under him. Except, he didn’t have two! He had four, and, Rassilon be damned, he had paws. Again he opened his mouth to protest, but all that came out was a bark. Wriggling out of his now unfitting clothes, he caught sight of himself in a metal door. Holy timelines, they’d turned him into a dog! That’s what animorphic degradation was! They turned humans temporarily into animals.    
  
He’d puzzle over that technology later. The crowd was surging up the street, with three men carrying collars and leashes. With a quick thought, the Doctor snagged up the part in his teeth then took off at a run.    
  
It was odd, racing along, and ewwww he only had one heart now. It took him a bit to find the right step, but the street leading to the valley was in sight. Dodging around another patrolman, he flew out of the city. Mud and water flung up in his face, making his fur sticky and uncomfortable. His lungs were burning, and his heart, how did people function with one heart, was pounding. The shouts were fading, with jeers about not coming back.    
  
The rain was freezing. Well bollocks, he could feel the cold. This was so not fair! Still, he ran. The Doctor ran and ran until he saw the Tardis. Just great. Jack was never gonna let him hear the end of this. The Doctor wasn’t worried about being permanently changed, since he’d read the punishment wore off in about twelve hours.    
  
Sliding in the mud, he tried to open the door. Right. He had paws now. Not hands. Growling in frustration, he settled back onto his haunches and began scratching and beating against the wood. It felt like forever, as the storm raged around him.    
  
“Who’s out there?!” Rose’s voice carried through, sounding hesitant. “Doctor? That you?”    
  
“Yes! Yes” he tried shouting, but all that came out was a bark. It made him drop the hear balancer, and he snapped it up again. Then he resumed scratching.    
  
“Who’s there.?” The Doctor groaned, feeling quite pathetic as it came out in a whine. The door inched open cautiously, and Rose’s beautiful face poked out above him. He whined, batting at the door. “Oh my goodness.” She opened the door, and he darted pat her, collapsing to the grating with a huff. “No! You can’t come in. The Doctor’ll kill me for bringing a dog in here.”    
  
“I’m the Doctor!” The words came out in huff and pant, as thunder cracked outside.    
  
“You poor thing! Did the storm scare you? Awwww lookit you. You’re all muddy.” Rose knelt in front of him. “This your toy? Huh? You were out playing with your toy and got spooked.” Her hands stroked his head, and The Doctor didn’t know what was more humiliating, rhe fact that he’d been turned into a dog or the fact that her sweet, caring touch had sent his tail into a wagging frenzy. It was freezing in here, and he began to shiver. “Well, I guess as long as we get you out before he gets back, the Doctor won’t know. Poor baby, let’s get you cleaned up and somethings warm to eat.”    
  
She pulled his coat tighter around her as she stood. “Come on boy. You are a boy right? Come on. Let’s go get you a bath hmmm?”    
  
The Doctor stumbled to his feet, as she looked down at her muddy hand. “Rose, it’s me!” The only sound that came out was an excited yap.   
  
“There’s a good boy. Come along. You’ll freeze if we don’t get you clean and dry.” Rose started walking, and whining in humiliation, the Doctor Followed. He didn’t want to freeze before he could change back.    
  
  



	3. Chapter 3

Rose was glad the Doctor had given her a detachable faucet, because this pretty dog was a squirmer. He, definitely a boy cause she’d checked, looked almost identical to a doberman, but there were some odd differences. He almost looked like somebody described a doberman to an animal generator and he popped out.    
  
He was bigger than any doberman Rose had ever seen, with his eyes level to her elbows when he was standing. He was lean and muscular like one though, with that trademark wedgeshaped snout. His fir was a bit longer than a doberman would have, but not by much. His ears were erect, but didn’t have the tell tale scar tissue knots of being cropped, and his tail was long. The ears were also just a tad bit more rounded, but it didn’t detract from his intimidating appearance. He was black, with the traditional markings, but the markings were more of a nude than rusty, doberman brown. Those eyes were odd too. They were an intense blue, as they watched her, startling against the dark fur.    
  
“Please stop squirming! You’ll get me wet and muddy too.” Rose huffed. She had so far avoided being splashed but as she was rinsing his ears clean, scraping the soap free with her fingers, the pretty boy’s tail had gone crazy. In an instant, he stilled, then, cocking his head, he sat and blinked at her. “Ooooh, you’re trained are you?” This earned her a sharp, booming bark followed by a sound that almost could be a snort. “You sure are pretty.” She swore he narrowed his eyes, but no way he had. “Sorry, handsome.” Those ears perked up, and his muzzle raised up as if he was proud she’d noticed. “Got an ego then?” Splash went that tail.    
  
Rose turned off the water and grabbed a towel. She pointed at the massive rug that spanned the floor. “Out, and sit.” The damn thing literally huffed at her. “Do you want to freeze?” The warm bath had heated the room a bit, but it was fadingThe dog jumped out and plopped onto the rug. “Now, hold still. That tail’s dangerous you know.” This earned her a wide yawn. “Okay then.”    
  
The Doctor held still, which had been impossible in the bath. Rose had been all over him, scrubbing, scratching, and erasing the mud from his skin, errr fur. It had felt amazing. Now the frigid air was chilling his fur, but Rose quickly began toweling him off. She hit that spot behind his ear, and it took every ounce of control not to squirm. “Who’s a good boy? You are. Yes. Yes you are!” He was about to wine and protest the baby talk, when she dropped a firm kiss on his head. Rose kissed him! His tail took control. Damn this dog body. “Gonna have to think of a name for you. Can’t keep callin’ ya good boy.”    
  
“Doctor. Rose, it’s me.” All that came out was whines and yaps.    
  
“Let’s see.” God her hands were magical in that towel, drying his belly. No, focus. He had to focus. “You’re intimidating at first glance, but definitely a sweet cuddle bug inside, aren’t you?” He was not a cuddle bug. She dropped another kiss to his brow. Okay, maybe, but only when they were watching telly in the library and she fell asleep against him. “And those eyes. Never seen a doberman with such blue eyes.” Oh, so that’s what form he’d taken? Huh, some part of his brain wondered if there was some underlying meaning to that. Probably not. “You sorta remind me of my friend. His name’s the Doctor. He’s kinda like you, all gruff and grumpy on the outside, but really sweet ‘nd carin’ when he lets his guard down.”    
  
There was something in the way she said those things, a tone he’d never heard before. It was almost wistful, sort of breathy. “Rose, it’s me.” He pawed at her thigh, trying to get her to understand. “I am the Doctor!”    
  
“Oh, you like that name? Hmm? Well, Doctor it is.” Rose gave a wild giggle, as she tossed the towel aside and picked up his coat. “God, if he found out I named a dog after him, ‘d never hear the end of it.” The Doctor was profusely in agreement with that. “Come on Doctor, let’s go see what Jack cooked. Are you hungry? I am.”    
  
Rose led Doctor out of her ensuite into her room. “Oh! Look. The TARDIS put out some extra blankets!” They weren’t the ones that usually went in her room, and with a laugh she realized they were for the dog that was practically between her legs whining up a storm. “Can’t have you layin’ on the cold galley floor. Guess she wanted you to be warm.” Scooping them up, she carried them in her arms. “Now, if you have ta go potty, you’ll have to go back out in the storm.”    
  
“Oh shoot me now.” The Doctor could not believe she just said that.    
  
“Well ‘m sorry, but I don’ make the rules.” Rose patted Doctor on the head when he whined, as they shivered their way through the halls. She could smell something delicious wafting towards her, and she sighed. Even in three layers and the Doctor’s warm coat, she was chilled to the bone. Something warm in her belly would be amazing. “Whatcha cookin?”    
  
“Some Bartulian beef stew.” Jack answered over his shoulder, and Rose shut the door behind her. She knelt down to spread the blankets out close to the heater to keep her pretty boy warm, but no so close the blankets would burn. “Holy balls, Rose! What the hell is that?!”    
  
“A dog, dumbarse.” She snorted, but then stiffened as Doctor gave a low growl at Jack. “Be nice.”    
  
“You know how the Doctor feels about bringing stray things on the TARDIS.” She stood up, stroking Doctor’s head. Jack was staring at them like he was afraid the room was about to implode.    
  
“He let me keep you.” The Doctor had to laugh at Rose’s quick wit, and even more so at the pout Jack was wearing. Sadly it only came out as a bark.    
  
“Rose Tyler, are you implying that I’m a dog.” Jack pointed the ladle at her, looking properly affronted at her retort. Rose had to giggle.    
  
“If the condom fits.” She quipped again, moving to get a bowl to fill with water. This time, Jack retaliated with a swat to her rear with his hand. “I’m kid-“ Doctor let out a full growl, and Rose spun to find him staring at Jack. Now, she didn’t know much about dogs, having ever owned cats, but that was definitely a look that said ‘Don’t Touch.’   
  
“Jesus Christ, Rose. Call him off! Call him off!” Jack was backing up, as Doctor stalked towards him, his lip curling up to reveal lethal looking incisors.    
  
“Doctor, down! Sit boy!” To her relief, his hackles lowered, and he promptly plopped to his haunches and looked at her with what could only be defined as smug. “Jack wasn’t hurting me. He’s a friend, see.” Hoping to convey that she didn’t need protection, she went up on her toes to kiss Jack’s cheek. Doctor whined, dropping to his belly and covering his muzzle with a paw.    
  
“Hang on, is that the Doctor?” At Jack’s question, the Doctor leapt to his feet! Finally the bloody time agent was useful. He darted over to him, going up on his hind legs to drop his front paws on his shoulder and meet his eyes.    
  
“Don’t be daft.” Rose rolled her eyes. “Of course not. He’s just a dog. Found him whining and scratching at the door. Didn’t want to leave the poor thing in the storm!” Doctor dropped down, and those crystalline eyes were darting between her and Jack.    
  
“Well, he’s lucky its you that found him.” Jack turned back to the stew. “The Doc would probably chuck me right out with him, but not you.”    
  
“What’s that supposed to mean?!” The Doctor barked the question at the same time Rose crossed her arms and said it.    
  
“All you’d have to do is flutter those pretty eyelashes and be all ‘but Doctah, he was so wet ‘nd cold ‘nd alone. Please, can’ we jus’ keep ‘im.’ And he’d be out the door to buy kibble.” Rose jerked back at his impression. What the he’ll did he mean by that? She’d never talked so, so, so well, seductive towards the Doctor. Well, not to his face at least. Even if she did, the Doctor would so not run out and buy kibble.    
  
“You’re crazy. He’s gonna be jus’ as mad at me, but whatever.” The Doctor was a bit taken aback by not only Jack’s very accurate impression of Rose’s accent, but also by the way she waved it off and set a bowl filled with water beside his blankets.    
  
“Keep telling yourself that.”    
  
Rose grabbed her favorite bottle of Atropicus wine from the fridge and poured a bottle. “We just have to make sure he’s out before the Doctor gets back ‘s all.” Jack was out of his mind if he thought she had any pull over the high and mighty Time Lord.    
  
“He’s gonna smell him. You know how he goes on about his superior senses.” The Doctor had to admit Jack was right there. Just like he’d known the time Rose had wandered off to a petting zoo and tried to play it off like she hadn’t been cooing all over the baby animals, he’d smell if she had brought a real dog on board. “Here.” He passed Rose a bowl, and the Doctor’s stomach growled at the delicious smell. This body was hungry, starving.    
  
Rose didn’t miss how Doctor was staring at her bowl longingly. Unable to resist those pleading eyes, she set the bowl down. “Here baby boy. You eat up. I’ll get another.” Kissing his head, she stood up and stole Jack’s bowl with a giggle.    
  
“Better brush your teeth before you kiss the Doctor. Doubt he’s a fan of dog fur breath.” Rose looked up from her bowl as Doctor made a grunt like he’d been kicked.    
  
“Jack, you do know the Doctor ‘nd I aren’ a couple, yeah?” The man had been with them for a month! Rose was used to the assumption from strangers, and even her mum, but she didn’t expect it from Jack.    
  
“Hang on, so you dumped Mickey at Cardiff, but didn’t make a move on the Doctor?!” Jack’s disbelieving gasp took the Doctor by surprise. Rose had broken up with Mickey? Why hadn’t she told him?! “The whole universe can see the man is in love with you!” No it couldn’t! The Doctor made sure he kept his feelings quite concealed, expertly, top secret. “And you’re head over heels with him.” Jack settled into his chair, blocking the Doctor’s view of Rose. Grumbling under his breath, he gave in to hunger and began to eat.    
  
Rose nearly choked on her stew, at the same time Doctor dropped his muzzle into his bowl and began to eat. He was surprisingly neat with it too. What the hell was Jack on about? “I’m not in love with the Doctor.” She snorted, although her heart called her a big fat liar. No way the Doctor was in love with her either.    
  
“Then why’d you turn me down last week, at that hotel on Atropicus, while Mr. Broody was off doing God knows what?” Rose felt her face flush. God, there had been so much going on that night. “That’s what I thought.”    
  
“I just didn’t want to sleep with you.”    
  
This was news to the Doctor. Jack, fifty-first century, walking volcano of pheromones, had come on to Rose and got shot down? He didn’t know whether to be pleased with that news, or a bit dissuaded. If Jack couldn’t pillow talk Rose into bed, with his charm and good looks, no way she’d be interested in the Doctor’s daft old face and big ears.    
  
“Because you wanted to go find the Doctor. I saw you two walking on the beach later.” Rose swallowed her stew, wondering just how much more she could blush. “Just admit it, you’re in love with him. If he walked in, right now, pushed you against that wall, and kissed you, I’d be mopping you off the floor.”    
  
The Doctor shivered at that image, Rose pinned against the wall, their lips moving frantically. He’d have her down to nothing but that damn jacket. She’d let him make love to her, and concede to merging their thoughts. He’d make her forget every man before him, and ensure there were none after. A trilling tinkle of laughter grazed his thoughts. The TARDIS! The TARDIS KNEW IT WAS HIM!   
  
“No, I would not melt if he kissed me.” The Doctor’s thoughts were jerked back to the humans, as the TARDIS was laughing at him. Rose wouldn’t want him to kiss her? Rejection flooded his chest, and he whined at the intensity of it. “Because ‘m not in love with him. Even if I was, he would so not be interested in me.”    
  
_ Tell them its me! Do something! _ The Doctor shouted in his mind at his ship.  _ I can’t take hearing this! Please! Tell them! _ The amused flicker of affection was a blazing refusal. Rose was talking again. Jack had asked a question he’d missed   
  
“Uh, because he’s a nine hundred year old genius. He’s a flippin’ Lord Jack. Dunno how much you know about his culture, bu’ he explained it a bit to me.” Rose had spent hours dragging it out of him, but he’d finally given her the basic societal breakdown. “They’re all Gallifreyans, sort of like how everyone born and raised in the UK is British, but Time Lords were the rulers, the politicians, a whole separate class. ‘M an unemployed shopgirl from the estates, with no A levels. Why would he be interested in me? Trust me, you’re readin’ too much into it.”    
  
The TARDIS scoffed in his mind, as if she were just as insulted as he was by Rose thinking so little of himself. Forget A levels and estate living, he couldn’t give a rats arse about that. Rose was clever, funny, kind, and caring. She had helped him crawl out of his reckless actions after the Time War. Okay, so her age was part of the reason, but not because she was nineteen, but because she was young. She had so much life to live, chances for things he’d never have.    
  
“And what is it about the Doctor that keeps you from loving him?” Rose balked at Jack’s abrupt question. She didn’t have a rebuttal for that. “He’s fucking gorgeous. He’s dominant, powerful, but funny, kind, and caring. Any time he touches you, I see how you light up.”   
  
“Can we change the subject!” Rose slammed her wine glass down, and the Doctor jumped. The TARDIS was laughing at him again. Her eyes met his around Jack, as his paws knocked the empty bowl. “Sorry, Doctor. Didn’ mean to scare you.”    
  
“Why’d you pick that name anyways?” Jack turned around, as Doctor stood up and padded over to her to nuzzle his head under her hand. She scratched that spot behind his ear, giggling as his massive tail went bonkers. “Just like the Doctor, you pick him over coming to my bed. Why is a dog getting more action than me tonight?!”    
  
“Because he isn’t tryin’ ta get in my pants, ta.” Rose swore Doctor hummed at her rejection of Jack’s sly offer. “And I named him Doctor, because he sort of reminds me of ‘im.”    
  
“It’s the eyes.” Jack reached over to stroke him, but the Doctor jerked his back end away. The Time Agent already had a propensity to smack his arse at random when he was in his own body. It was not happening as a dog. “And that glower! See that glower! Every time you hug me or snuggle against me or kiss my cheek, the Doctor looks at me exactly like that.”    
  
“Like what?!”    
  
“Like ‘hands off the blonde.’” Good, so Jack got his warnings loud and clear. This time, the TARDIS was scolding him for being so hypocritical. His ship couldn’t speak so much as project emotions and images. She was being extremely clear: if the Doctor wouldn’t make a move, why did he care if Jack did? He couldn’t be territorial of something he refused to claim.   
  
_ Because Rose made it clear she doesn’t see me that way. Are you deaf? _ He scowled up at the ceiling. The TARDIS sent him a sarcastic image of eyes opening.  _ My eyes are open, and my ears. Now tell them it’s me! _ He had been oblivious to the conversation going on around him, but as the TARDIS gave him a pretty hefty insult that was something about being a blind idiot and going silent, he heard Rose talking.    
  
“Great idea! Let’s see if he’s got somethin’ in these pockets!” Great idea? What great idea?! No! Rose was digging in his coat pockets. There were dangerous things in there, not just for her, but for his own sanity! Okay, so maybe he kept a scarf she’d once wrapped around his neck with a kiss to his cheek declaring him ‘properly dressed for skiing’ in the inner chest pocket. He absolutely did not occasionally fist it to his face, breathing in their mixed scents as he yielded to his base urges on desperate nights. “Ooooo jelly babies. Want one?” He watched as she popped one in her mouth and passed the bag to jack. “A yoyo. Hang on... nope, three yoyos.”    
  
“Is he nine hundred or nine?” Jack was asking for a bite! He was if he didn’t stop snorting like that!   
  
Rose floundered in the pocket. “My toiletry bag for when we get arrested.” She tossed the flowered case aside, as Doctor pawed at her wrist. “Stop that, I’m trying to find something.” She shoved her wrist further in, biting her lip in concentration, until she felt something odd. Slowly, she pulled it out. “Hmmm a man’s necklace!” she held the chain up in the light. The silver links sparkled and danced as it dangled. “Oh, this is perfect!” Giggling she took it in both hands and fastened it around Doctor’s neck. “Now you’re a very handsome boy! Yes you are!” She couldn’t help it. He was just so cute as he wriggled his body and looked up at her with those big, icy, puppy eyes. She grabbed each side of his muzzle and pressed kisses all over his silky fur. Just like in the bathroom, that tail was whipping like a damn helicopter propeller.    
  
“We should probably turn in.” Jack stood, clearing the bowls from the table. As he moved, the Doctor spotted something slide off the table to the floor. It was the psychic paper!    
  
“Yes! Finally!” Jerking away from Rose, he went for it. He caught an edge with his teeth, attempting to flip it open. All he had to do was get one paw-   
  
“No! Bad Doctor! Bad!” Rose yanked the excited dog away from the Doctor’s third most prized possession in a panic. She scooped it up, closing it and shoving it back in the pocket. “He’ll strangle me if you chewed that up!” Good, Doctor was gazing up at her like he was sorry he’d been naughty.   
  
Jack was barking out a laugh now, and the Doctor looked over at him at the same time Rose did. “Sorry, sorry. Just” he laughed again. “Got this image of the Doctor tied to your bed while you spanked him and called him a bad boy!” Oh, that was it! The Time Agent was about to be missing a finger or two!   
  
“Oh my god, no!” Rose wrestled Doctor back from Jack with the makeshift collar. “Just, in no reality will I ever spank the Doctor while calling him a bad boy!” She felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment, as the dog beside her huffed as if in agreement.    
  
“Oh, so you’d be the one tied and getting spanked then?” That image sent the Doctor’s mind topsy turvy. He’d had it on four occasions in the last month, when Rose had been particularly sassy and not listening. It’d relieve his stress over her rebellion in more ways than one to drive the ‘don’t wander off’ rule into her brain through that supple bum.    
  
“Goodnight Jack!” Rose spun to hide the flush in her cheeks. She’d never been prone to harboring such thoughts about her exes, but that exact image had starred in her solo race for relief more than once. There was just something about the fire in the Doctor’s eyes when he went off on a lecture about her being jeopardy friendly that made her want him to throw her down and slap those gorgeous, work calloused hands against her rear. Then he’d grab her hips, and... no! Those images had to go. “I’ll leave my heater in the hall. ‘Ve got this beautiful boy to keep me warm.”    
  
“I guess someone on this ship should be getting cuddled!” Jack’s tease was muffled by the galley door shutting.    
  
The Doctor looked up at Rose, surprised to find her biting her lip as she pulled at her hair. Her cheeks were flushed, and she drew a shaky breath. Was she okay? Did Jack upset her with that suggestion? Of course he did. Rose didn’t feel that way about him. He sighed, trying to push the rejection aside. “C’mon boy. You’re sleeping with me.”    
  
Doctor seemed glued to the floor, as Rose tugged his collar. “Come on! We’ll both freeze if we don’t get in bed.” That seemed to work, because he stood and began following after her. Rose didn’t know it was possible for a dog to look so down right sad and anxious at once, but his slow, sagging lope sure seemed like it.    
  
Once inside her warmed room, Rose unplugged the heater and stuck it in the hall. She didn’t have long to change and get in bed, but the lies she’d been spewing were eating her up inside. She had to let them out. Luckily, her bed companion for the night could never tattle on her. “I have a confession.” She dropped down on a knee, petting his head. “Want to hear it?”    
  
“Talk to me, Rose. What’s wrong?!” The Doctor had never seen that look on her face, never seen her eyes look so weary and drained. He pawed at her fur boots, nuzzling her hand since he couldn’t hold it.    
  
Rose smiled at the curious and open look on Doctor’s face. The way he kept touching her with his paw, as if trying to soothe her, was oddly comforting. “You can’t tell anyone, okay. But, well. I lied to Jack.” Meeting those intense blue eyes so like the ones she often found herself drowning in, she sighed. “I am completely, hopelessly, and unconditionally in love with the Doctor.”


	4. Chapter 4

The Doctor felt like he’d been backhanded by a Cyberman as Rose stood and shuffled over to her dresser. Rose loved him. His Rose was in love with him! She felt the same way he did! He couldn’t believe it, didn’t rightly understand either. She knew everything, about the Time War, about the box and the barn, he’d laid it all out bare one night when they’d been stranded in a cave high above a sea to wait out the planet’s equivalent of a hurricane. He’d dozed off, and Rose had been witness to one of his nightmares. There’d been no hiding it.    
  
She knew all that, all his failures, the four and a half billion innocent souls on his head, and yet she loved him. The knowledge was overwhelming, so much that he barely registered a smug feeling ‘told ya so’ impression from the TARDIS. There was just one problem. Rose hadn’t technically told him. She’d confessed it to a dog. Why? Why didn’t she say anything? Her words from the galley drifted back to his mind, all the rubbish reasons she thought she wasn’t good enough. A soft series of soft thuds drew his attention, and he was greeted by Rose’s bare back as she made to shimmy out of her last layer of pants. Oh no!   
  
Rose turned as Doctor whined behind her. What she saw had her giggling. He was flat on the floor with his paws over his eyes. She was instantly reminded of someone walking in on another person changing. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” He whined again. “‘M just gonna go shower off real quick. You wanna come in the loo with me? Steam’ll be warm!” She ducked into the ensuite, looking back. He didn’t lift his paws.    
  
It struck Rose then that maybe she’d been mistaken. They were on a different planet! For all she knew this dog was probably one of the damn inhabitants! Wouldn’t that just beat all? “God, how embarassin’ would it be if you were sentient ‘nd not just a sweet puppy.” She watched, hoping she wouldn’t see any signs he was. Then again, if he had been, the TARDIS would have translated his yaps. “Of course you aren’t. Sorry, jus’ paranoid. Be right back, ta!”    
  
The Doctor didn’t move until the sound of the shower was audible. He’d had a chance, the moment to acknowledge that he wasn’t a dog, but the thought of violating Rose’s privacy, her confessions, had him stock still. What he’d do is sneak out before she woke up and wait out the change back somewhere safe and secluded. That way she’d never know. He couldn’t tell her what she’d inadvertently done. It might humiliate her. No, no. He needed to think, to weigh whether or not he should cross those boundaries between them.    
  
It didn’t take long before she emerged, hair fluffy and freshly dried, and darted across the room in a pair of adorable striped jim jams. The Doctor felt a thrill as she scooped up his coat and draped it over her above the blankets. “Come on, Doctor. Come keep warm sugar.” Right, she’d surrendered her heater for his warmth. It was so wrong but right to jump up on the mattress and snuggle in beside her beneath the covers. Her arms went around his neck, stroking him while she snuggled into his neck.    
  
“I bet your owners are worried sick. You’re too healthy to be a stray.” Rose was glad Doctor was so big. His warmth was quickly filling the space beneath the sheets as he licked her arm. “I’m worried about the Doctor. He can get into trouble, lots of it actually.” She moved closer to his heat, as the chill of the air bit at her face. “Jus’ hope he didn’t get himself banged up in jail or summat.”    
  
The Doctor sighed. Being in jail was the least of her problems for him. He’d unintentionally violated her privacy, and overheard secrets he’d been longing to hear but wasn’t meant to. Did she have to kiss his neck like that? It made it hard to think, to contemplate the decision that’d come in a few hours time.    
  
“Yeah, ‘s’actly how I feel, boy.” Rose mimicked Doctor’s heavy sigh. Surprisingly, she felt a bit guilty that he’d overheard her little rant about why the Doctor couldn’t love her. “Listen, ‘s not that I think ‘m not good enough for a boyfriend or anythin’. Just not ‘im. The Doctor’s just, well, unattainable, ‘nd my luck with men hasn’t be the best.” She sighed again, tugging the blanket up over them so only her hair was out and his muzzle. “One was a drug using, controlling, cheating arse, and Mickey, well, he was just safe ya know. I knew he wouldn’t treat me like that, so I just went with it. Honestly, breaking up with him was the best thing I could do. He deserves someone who actually loves him.”    
  
Doctor wriggled a bit, and she smiled when he rested his chin on her cheek. Giggling at how he must have sensed her mood, she kissed the underside of his fur. It was exceptionally soft. “You’re a good boy. Shame I can’ keep ya. Don’t worry ‘bout me.” Rose stroked his back, smiling as his tail began to give tiny, light twitches. “Besides, if the Doctor was interested, he’d have said somethin’ more than ‘go put on some clothes’ yesterday. Didn’t traipse half naked through the heat jus’ to chat. Sorta hoped he’d look.” Closing her eyes, she remembered the horrified look on the Time Lord’s face. “Then again, if he is asexual like ‘m startin’ to think, he wouldn’t care either way.”    
  
Asexual? What a load of rubbish. Just because he chose not to bang everything with a pulse, didn’t mean the Doctor didn’t know how to make someone forget their own name. He just couldn’t do it mindlessly. If there wasn’t that mental stimulation, that spark of fire of a clever mind to entice him, he wasn’t interested. Rose, well, she had that. “If only you knew some of the things I dream when you’re not around.”    
  
“Sorry. ‘M probably keepin’ ya awake with my chattin’.” Rose yawned at Doctor’s belly deep huff, before kissing the sweet boy again. “Let’s get some rest, ya. We’ve got to be up early before the Doctor gets back.” It didn’t take long before the dog’s protective warmth had her drifting in dreams.    
  
The Doctor wanted to move once he was sure Rose was asleep. Her body had gone completely limp, although she gave happy little noises every now and then. Good, she was having pleasant dreams. Now open the door and let me out. He mentally prodded the TARDIS. ‘M tired too, ‘nd I can’t sleep here!   
  
The single flicker of emotion from his preening, smug ship was highly discouraging and could only be translated as ‘no, suffer’.    
  
Fine, if that was the case, he’d just slip out of bed and wait the change out in Rose’s ensuite. Then he’d duck out once he was himself again and pretend he came back while they were asleep. He tried to move, but Rose’s arms tightened, and she gave a noise of discomfort when the blanket slipped to her shoulders. The Doctor froze, as she instantly began to shiver and her breath was visible in the dim glow of her clock. Quickly, he caught the blanket with his muzzle and pulled it back over their heads. He’d stay, until he felt the change, then he’d leave. Closing his eyes, he began contemplating the needed repairs, but the world went blank before he could stop it.    
  
A large, hand shifted along Rose’s stomach, under her sleep top. It stirred her, drawing a breathy gasp as the dream she’d been having of kissing the Doctor became fuzzy. Breaths stirred her hair, as a leg wedged between her thighs. Oh, it was this dream then, Rose loved it. It was one of her favorites, waking up in the Doctor’s arms. She arched back, following the familiar dance of the fantasy. The hand slid higher, ghosting along her breasts as something long and hard pushed into her rear.    
  
It was bliss, this feeling of being completely engulfed in his arms. She waited, breath held, for his lips to brush her hair back as he whispered her name. The clothes would vanish in a thought, and the Doctor would enter her from behind, deep, slow, his lips and teeth at her neck. The hand on her breast shifted, and a single nail scraped her skin. It didn’t hurt, but it stung. She wasn’t dreaming!    
  
Bloody flipping Jack! Some nerve he had, sneaking in! He’d probably kicked Doctor out of the bed to squeeze in because he was cold. Oh God! The Doctor had a tendency to barge in unannounced! What if he found them like this. “Jack, seriously! I told you we were not sharing body heat!” She hissed, rolling over, as her nose collided with a cool bare chest and her fingers met chilly, naked thighs. “Jack, you should not be naked in my....” her mind calculated that Jack’s skin would be hot, not cool. The Doctor’s skin was cool!    
  
Heart pounding, Rose eased her hand up, feeling in the dark, until she met prominent ears and short hair. The Doctor was in her bed! Naked! This had to be a dream. It had to be! She swallowed, waiting for the new fantasy to unfurl, but it didn’t. Instead, the Doctor gave a short snore and pulled her tighter. His leg shifted under hers, snd she felt him against her hip. He was hard, and he was, indeed, impressive. Her body temperature went through the roof!    
  
How?! Oh hell. He’d come back early! He’d probably gotten lost and injured in the storm. Why else would he have stumbled naked into her room? She jerked her fingers down, as he...he just growl, and they met chain. A very familiar feeling necklace was around his neck. No! It wasn’t possible. Oh fuck! Fuck! Rose bit her lip, about to untangle herself and hide, when the Doctor spoke. Rose had never heard him sound so petrified.    
  
“Fuck. You’re awake.” The Doctor had been roused from a very lucid dream about Rose sprawled out in the star room under him, clutching at his arms, crying his real name as she exploded beneath him. Now he was in trouble. Rose wasn’t moving. She was a still as a weeping angel in his arms, frozen as her one heart pounded against his chest. His brilliant brain went black with fear, and his genius tongue stuttered out. “I’m not asexual.”    
  
“Oh, my god!” Rose Rolled over, covering her face. Doctor was the Doctor! She didn’t know how, but he was! He’d heard everything! Oh, fuck, he knew! He knew and he was there and not moving. “Jus’ chuck me off back home then. I’ll understand.”    
  
Her quiet sob of horror spurred the Doctor into action. He tried to roll her over, but she clung to the sheets, trembling, her scent heady with embarrassment and panic. The taste was wrong. Rose should never feel like that, ever, especially because of him. His excuses felt like wet paper, and the Doctor felt his resolve break. “Rose, ‘m not sending you away.” With a firm tug, he managed to get her onto her back. “Lights, low please.” He breathed to the Tardis. As the soft yellow light illuminated enough for her to see him, the Doctor was petrified to see her eyes closed, tears forming in the lashes. Enough was enough.    
  
Rose gasped as cool lips pressed into hers, and her heart skipped when the Doctor shifted over her. It sent warmth, despite the cold air, coursing through her. It was so perfect, better than she’d dreamed, and his tongue grazed the seam of her lips. The tears she was fighting back trickled free, clearing her stunned mind just as their tongues met. “No!” She jerked her head to the side. “Don’t kiss me just ta make me feel better.”    
  
The Doctor felt the absence of Rose’s perfect lips like a pain. What did she mean? Oh, right... her doubts, her fears, all her reasons for keeping her feelings hidden. “Oh, Rose.” He took her chin softly, coaxing her face around. “I’m the one not good enough for you.” Those stunning orbs of topaz met his as she opened them in surprise. “I didn’t say anythin’, didn’t act on this because...” it was extremely hard to focus with the aroma of their kiss wafting from her lips. “I didn’ think you felt the same, didn’t want me.”    
  
“Hang on, do you mean...” Rose couldn’t believe it, couldn’t fathom it. Yet, he was half on top of her, naked, not running from the closest, most intimate they’d ever been. “But you can’t. No, you’re just.” Cool, rough fingers brushed her temple, and she felt him there, a tickle, seeking entrance at her mind like he sometimes did when speaking meant danger.   
  
“Look, please, just.”    
  
“I consent.” The Doctor groaned as he slid into her thoughts, fully into them for the first time and not a brief exchange of images and half sentences. It was euphoria, as her consciousness met his with a flare of the love she’d already voiced. He poured his own back, and with her thrill of acceptance he caught her lips again. The eagerness with with she welcomed his mind, telepathically surrendering all of her to him, had him surging back to attention, and he moved fully over her, desperate to be closer.    
  
Rose was burning in the most amazing way. The Doctor’s thoughts melded with hers, openly showing her everything she’d thought he thought about her was a lie. Then she tasted something wild in his thoughts, something that fanned the flames in her veins higher. His hard arousal rutted against her hips, and she felt hers roll from her chest to her core in a palpable wave. “Dreamed of this.” She crooned, as the memory of it crashed into her foremost thoughts. Then, his mind projected an identical image, the only difference is she was more beautiful than her reflection ever seemed, and she was sprawled out on a bed she didn’t recognize.    
  
“Need you, now. Tired of pretendin’.” The Doctor tossed the blankets aside, breaking from Rose’s lips to grab for her shirt buttons. It had been hundreds of years since he’d engaged in both mental and physical intimacy, never having trusted any other partner so completely. He needed Rose to come undone, to mark her, to claim her as his.    
  
The fire of the moment, the strange, yearning, possessive emotions she was getting from the Doctor had Rose desperate for him. His thoughts had dissolved from English, cascading a musical language she couldn’t understand into her thoughts. The images behind them were clear as crystal, though, he wanted her to the point of insanity. Then, the cold air bit through her clothes as he ripped her shirt open in his frantic motions. “God!”    
  
“Prefer Doctor but, ‘ll take it!” The Doctor gaped down at Rose’s bare torso, his mouth watering in delight at the way her skin glowed and glistened for him, for only him. Her thoughts made that clear. Except, now she was shivering and her thoughts were taking an icy edge.    
  
“Doctor, uh, god I can’t believe ‘m doing this.” Rose pushed him away, yanking the blankets back up. The mental link broke as their skin parted, leaving her mind echoing its loss. “But, ‘s freezin’, and your not exactly the warmest blooded man, yeah?”    
  
The Doctor was so drunk on her, and stunned by the broken connection, that it took him a minute to process her words. Right, the heater, humans were cold. “I should probably fix the heatin’ first.” His body protested with a starving throb that Rose’s gaze zeroed in on.    
  
“Yeah... uh... yeah.” Rose bit her lip, rubbing her thighs together. “Then, erm, maybe we can pick up where that third image started?” It had been glorious, her bent over the console as he pounded into her from behind, wearing only his leather coat.    
  
The Doctor sucked in a breath, scrambling off the bed. He snagged a blanket, wrapping it around him, and rushed to find some trousers and the part. Rose joined him promptly, wrapped in a blanket, smelling all too deliciously needy the entire time. Once the heating was fixed, pouring warmth into the console room, the blanket fell away to reveal she was exactly as in his image.    
  
Jack was pleased to find the TARDIS warm upon awaking. He cheered, as he threw on his shoes and rushed to the console room. He wondered if Rose had figured out that Dog was the Doctor yet? The TARDIS had let him in on it as soon as they left the galley to go to bed. Oh, to be a fly on that wall. Then again, the repressed Time Lord had probably fled the room while Rose was sleeping.    
  
Suddenly, as he rounded the main cornerto the console room, he heard screaming. Rose was screaming, loudly. “Ah hell no!” He took off at a run, skidding up the ramp, and froze. Oh, Rose was screaming all right, and honestly he’d be too. She was wearing only the Doctor’s leather coat, and the aforementioned Time Lord was completely naked, kneeling on Rose’s blanket, wearing only Her legs over his shoulders.   
  
“Jack!” Well that wasn’t the tone he’d fantasized her screaming his name with. The Doctor’s head whipped around, his face glistening with what could only be Rose’s juices, and his hand never ceasing it’s movements against her.   
  
“I... uh.” Jack stuttered at the sneer the Doctor through him.    
  
“Hands off the blonde.”    
  
Jack turned, walking back into the hall just as Rose shouted out “Doctor!” God this would be enough to fuel his fantasies for months. It was about damn time, and the TARDIS giggled agreement in his mind.


End file.
